Amid some knob-slobbering hagiography of 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman by Mike Silver, a multi-page opus essentially saying that Roman deserved every open head coaching job but was thwarted by reaching the Super Bowl, there was this wonderful tidbit:

The plays Roman unveils on the screen, of course, are far more aesthetically pleasing. "He's a genius when it comes to football," Staley says. "He comes up with crazy stuff you don't see anywhere else — and he calls it at the perfect time."

Except, of course, when he intentionally doesn't. In mid-December, after the Niners pulled out a 41-34 victory over the New England Patriots to improve to 10-3-1, Roman consciously decided to dial back the offense in order to keep potential playoff opponents off balance.

That approach seemed dubious the following Sunday night in Seattle, when the 49ers absorbed a 42-13 thrashing at the hands of the Seahawks, but Roman took solace in the fight Kaepernick displayed in leading San Francisco to a late touchdown.

Oh Greg Roman, yes, you intentionally failed to score points on national TV when you still hadn't even clinched your division title, against the team that could still take that title from you. Truly, your genius is something to behold.

I have no idea how we will withstand the unstoppable onslaught of Greg Roman when he actually tries. Whatever shall the Seahawks defense do?

I hope Richard Sherman laughs in this guy's face after we shellack them in Candlestick next season.

If I was his boss, then he'd be canned the second after that statement, if true... Same goes for these FO's who tank it for draft position. You try to win every time out on the field. Period dot. And anything else is unacceptable. Then again, that'sthe "old school" in me. Not a fan of Greg Roman or his "genius" philosophy.

Somewhere, in some dark and dreary newsroom, countless others paid to spew their literary jargon, are contemplating the next stab at justifying their employment during a rather boring off-season.

"Wow, I've got some serious cabin fever going on here, what else can we dig up and put a spin on?"

While I agree that some offensive posturing goes on in the football world, that nationally-televised game with so many post season implications was not the time to do it. If this whole thing was true, clearer heads would have prevailed by the 3rd or 4th offensive series, not late in the fourth quarter.

I call BS.

"...Seattle has become the capital city of the New NFL" - Kip Earlywine Remembering "The Radish"...

Well sure. 49ers have held back in many games, just to make things sporting, to spread the wins around the league and make it competitive. After all, we'd be left without a league if they played to their full potential, thus creating disillusionment and distaste by other fans.

World Champion Seattle Seahawks football. It's an addiction, and there is no cure.Les Norton - gone but never forgotten. Rest in blue and green peace, my friend.

That approach seemed dubious the following Sunday night in Seattle, when the 49ers absorbed a 42-13 thrashing at the hands of the Seahawks, but Roman took solace in the fight Kaepernick displayed in leading San Francisco to a late touchdown.

That was my favorite quote from the article. If he actually told Silver he was proud in any way of that late TD, he was just putting lipstick on the pig. Kaepernick throws a garbage time TD trailing 42-6, a TD that isn't a TD on replay, and throws it on a Seattle secondary that consists of emptied bench players, and it is labeled "fight". I am sure all the next week the Niners were talking about the late score showing their fight. Yeah right. The Niners were unprepared for the noise, and getting plays in late to a rookie QB was a problem even through the playoffs for Roman. It is fact that some of Roman's personnel groups are incredibly difficult to defend, and his stunting offensive linemen are very creative, but getting those widely varied offensive groups on and off the field also slows his offense and puts his QB against the clock.

The entire article is a complaint that Roman didn't get a head coaching job somewhere. Perhaps instead of focusing on the jobs he isn't getting, and telling Silver how unfair it is that Super Bowl coaches are unfairly not getting jobs, Roman should focus on the fact that his red zone offense has been below average for two years.

Does seem kind of silly that a coach is handicapped if his team is involved in a deep playoff run. If the league could put off the draft and the start of the new NFL year, they should put a moratorium on coaching hires until after the playoffs. I wonder if Bradley gets the Jaguars job if Roman is available?

You guys could also look at the snap counts before you jump to conclusions. I was reading earlier (after the divisional round of the playoffs) that they ran something like 10% of their plays from the pistol in the Seattle, New England and Arizona games, then ran something like 60% of the snaps from the pistol in the Packers game.

Most of the common winners do this towards the end of the year anyways, it's not new. The Giants, Packers, Patriots would all dial back and try to run generic towards the end if the division was a lock and save their game planning for the post season.

I'd say it worked out amazingly well. Did you see how badly they embarrassed Green Bay?

Seriously, they owned the NFCW 2 years ago, then this year they barely won it over a surging Seahawks rival and couldn't beat the Rams. I'm guessing they didn't unveil their full genius against the Rams both games out of respect for Fisher....or as a divisional brotherly show of love. Problem is that Harbaugh doesn't have respect for any other coaches.

So, the Niners didn't unveil their offense against the Hawks to not show wrinkles against potential playoff oponents (I could almost buy this as their last game was the Cards, who were in a flat spin)...and that did what exactly ?

It gave their team momentum going into the playoffs ?

It shoved an upcoming rival's face in the mud and proved that we really can't beat them ?

It gave their team confidence and worked on some vital playcalling issues heading into the playoffs ?

This is going to be a murderous division. You don't want to give anyone an advantage, much less the mental stigma off that epic ass whooping we gave them. Absurd.

All he said was that he dialed back the playcalling. He didn't say they weren't trying to win. His point was only that they weren't going to show off their entire offense for playoff teams to prepare for.

...and it worked.

Yes, they lost in Seattle...but all they had to do was beat Arizona to take the NFCW. Even if they lost both games, they'd still have been a wildcard. More importantly tho they rolled out that offense vs. Green Bay (MUCH more of the Pistol). 550+ yards and 45 points. Kaep with 263 yards passing with 2 TDs and 181 yards rushing with an additional 2 TDs. In Atlanta the following week the Falcons had no answers either. The offense played very well in the Super Bowl as well...just a bit too late.

Look...as a Niner fan it pains me to say that the Seahawks are good. They are. You guys tho are making WAY, WAY to much out of ONE GAME.

NONE of these are excuses as teams should be up for every game, but the below are all FACTORS in the way that game played out.

1) Justin Smith was out. That first TD by Lynch was right at his spot and is one of the reasons the Niners didn't resign Ricky Jean-Francios and DID sign Glenn Dorsey.

2) Aldon Smith was hurt. He had 19.5 sacks during the season but NONE in the final 3 games and playoffs. Some say it's because Justin Smith is the reason he gets those sacks. Right...as if no other OLB has had a really good DE lined up next to them. As far as I know tho, none has ever had 33.5 sacks in his first 2 years. Aldon was hurt. It was revealed just a few weeks ago that he played the end of the season with a torn labrum. It's no coincidense that the 49ers pass D fell apart after both Justin and Aldon were hurt. No pressure on the QB. It started in the second half vs NE and continued all the way through the Super Bowl. Even when Justin came back, he was essentially playing with one arm.

3) Fatigue: The 49ers D almost never substitutes. Most of their defenders play the entire game. NE's strategy the week before (and in every game really) is to run a HUGE number of plays so the defense simply can't keep up. In this case, the D was on the field for NINETY snaps. Thats nuts. Follow that with a short week and then going into the Clink where the 'hawks were playing like their hair was on fire....predictable results.

4) Vernon Davis was injured in that game as well. He never came back after that hit by Chancellor (sp?).

The Seahawks won that game...fair and square. Not saying otherwise....but you guys seem to be of the mindset that it was the "changing of the guard" game or something. That ONE game is the thing you cling to more than anything else despite the fact that you BARELY beat a team that the 49ers beat hadily twice (Packers), LOST to the team the 49ers beat in the playoffs (Atlanta...and I've read on here a few times that the Niners had a week off and played them at home...um, no), and are STILL 1-3 vs Harbaugh and actually only split the series this season.

I've seen the thumping of the chest about how you guys "owned" Kaepernick. Against that D in that building he did in fact have his worst showing as a pro, but his QB rating was only 72 in his SIXTH career start. To put that in perspective, what was Wilsons QB rating in his SEVENTH career start in SF? 38.7. Wilson has the makings of a great young QB, but you guys seem to think that he's the only one who improved as the season progressed.

Was the win by Seattle impressive? Of course it was. Does it keep the 49ers up at night? Not really. While Seattle is thumping its chest about a game that got out of hand in December, the 49ers are driven by a game they lost in FEBRUARY. If you guys are expecting 42-13 again, you are in for a big letdown.

All he said was that he dialed back the playcalling. He didn't say they weren't trying to win. His point was only that they weren't going to show off their entire offense for playoff teams to prepare for.

...and it worked.

Indeed it did. After all, they won the Super Bo...

Oh, they were actually getting blown off the field on national TV (again) by the Ravens until the power outage gave them time to regroup? Nevermind.

QuickLightning wrote:You guys could also look at the snap counts before you jump to conclusions. I was reading earlier (after the divisional round of the playoffs) that they ran something like 10% of their plays from the pistol in the Seattle, New England and Arizona games, then ran something like 60% of the snaps from the pistol in the Packers game.

Most of the common winners do this towards the end of the year anyways, it's not new. The Giants, Packers, Patriots would all dial back and try to run generic towards the end if the division was a lock and save their game planning for the post season.

I'd say it worked out amazingly well. Did you see how badly they embarrassed Green Bay?

But here's the problem the 49ers DIDN'T have the division locked up. Not even close. If it wasn't for ST Louis and their Delay of Game (which cost them the win vs SF) SF wouldn't have even won the division. It's ludicrious that SF would dial it all back and not care about winning in SEA, when infact there was a strong possiblity they'd play each other again in the playoffs.

All he said was that he dialed back the playcalling. He didn't say they weren't trying to win. His point was only that they weren't going to show off their entire offense for playoff teams to prepare for.

...and it worked.

Indeed it did. After all, they won the Super Bo...

Oh, they were actually getting blown off the field on national TV (again) by the Ravens until the power outage gave them time to regroup? Nevermind.

What a putz. Take the loss like a man, Roman. The attitude displayed by Roman in the article is not something that is reserved for the the 49ers, the league is filled with sore losers, but gimme a break.

I'll say this though, for as much flack as he's getting me and everyone else here, the dude can draw up some plays. He's very innovative in the run game, especially.

QuickLightning wrote:You guys could also look at the snap counts before you jump to conclusions. I was reading earlier (after the divisional round of the playoffs) that they ran something like 10% of their plays from the pistol in the Seattle, New England and Arizona games, then ran something like 60% of the snaps from the pistol in the Packers game.

Most of the common winners do this towards the end of the year anyways, it's not new. The Giants, Packers, Patriots would all dial back and try to run generic towards the end if the division was a lock and save their game planning for the post season.

I'd say it worked out amazingly well. Did you see how badly they embarrassed Green Bay?

But here's the problem the 49ers DIDN'T have the division locked up. Not even close. If it wasn't for ST Louis and their Delay of Game (which cost them the win vs SF) SF wouldn't have even won the division. It's ludicrious that SF would dial it all back and not care about winning in SEA, when infact there was a strong possiblity they'd play each other again in the playoffs.

They won the division in the end, didn't they? All they had to do was beat Arizona...

The fact that the Seahawks and Niners could have gone head to head in the post season gives even more backing to the story. You don't want the Seahawks to see more of the Pistol just a few weeks before a single elimination game comes up in the NFC Championship.

I swear, most of you act like you've never watched a season of football before. This is extremely COMMON and most of the top teams do it.

QuickLightning wrote:You guys could also look at the snap counts before you jump to conclusions. I was reading earlier (after the divisional round of the playoffs) that they ran something like 10% of their plays from the pistol in the Seattle, New England and Arizona games, then ran something like 60% of the snaps from the pistol in the Packers game.

Most of the common winners do this towards the end of the year anyways, it's not new. The Giants, Packers, Patriots would all dial back and try to run generic towards the end if the division was a lock and save their game planning for the post season.

I'd say it worked out amazingly well. Did you see how badly they embarrassed Green Bay?

But here's the problem the 49ers DIDN'T have the division locked up. Not even close. If it wasn't for ST Louis and their Delay of Game (which cost them the win vs SF) SF wouldn't have even won the division. It's ludicrious that SF would dial it all back and not care about winning in SEA, when infact there was a strong possiblity they'd play each other again in the playoffs.

Quicklightning is 100% correct.

Green Bay hadn't seen what the 49ers did to them ion film and is a big reason the 49ers embarassed them. THAT was the point. In the interviews with GB players after the game they were all stunned because they hadn't seen that stuff on film.

You guys are really missing the point. Its not like he's saying the 49ers conceded that game. He's not saying they weren't trying to win....he was only saying that they didn't roll out their entire bag of tricks. They did the same think vs Arizona the following week and got off to a slow start. They were trying to win those games...they were just scaling back the playbook.

QuickLightning wrote:You guys could also look at the snap counts before you jump to conclusions. I was reading earlier (after the divisional round of the playoffs) that they ran something like 10% of their plays from the pistol in the Seattle, New England and Arizona games, then ran something like 60% of the snaps from the pistol in the Packers game.

Most of the common winners do this towards the end of the year anyways, it's not new. The Giants, Packers, Patriots would all dial back and try to run generic towards the end if the division was a lock and save their game planning for the post season.

I'd say it worked out amazingly well. Did you see how badly they embarrassed Green Bay?

But here's the problem the 49ers DIDN'T have the division locked up. Not even close. If it wasn't for ST Louis and their Delay of Game (which cost them the win vs SF) SF wouldn't have even won the division. It's ludicrious that SF would dial it all back and not care about winning in SEA, when infact there was a strong possiblity they'd play each other again in the playoffs.

They won the division in the end, didn't they? All they had to do was beat Arizona...

The fact that the Seahawks and Niners could have gone head to head in the post season gives even more backing to the story. You don't want the Seahawks to see more of the Pistol just a few weeks before a single elimination game comes up in the NFC Championship.

I swear, most of you act like you've never watched a season of football before. This is extremely COMMON and most of the top teams do it.

Then why pull it out in various forms during the regular season and then again against Green Bay? Then it's on tape, and obviously, they want to beat Seattle in the potential NFC Champ game.

However, fine, if you want to argue this is common, go ahead and do so. Because it makes your team look even more arrogant and stupid if they're going to do it against their biggest division rival.

Last edited by Sarlacc83 on Tue Apr 09, 2013 8:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

QuickLightning wrote:You guys could also look at the snap counts before you jump to conclusions. I was reading earlier (after the divisional round of the playoffs) that they ran something like 10% of their plays from the pistol in the Seattle, New England and Arizona games, then ran something like 60% of the snaps from the pistol in the Packers game.

Most of the common winners do this towards the end of the year anyways, it's not new. The Giants, Packers, Patriots would all dial back and try to run generic towards the end if the division was a lock and save their game planning for the post season.

I'd say it worked out amazingly well. Did you see how badly they embarrassed Green Bay?

But here's the problem the 49ers DIDN'T have the division locked up. Not even close. If it wasn't for ST Louis and their Delay of Game (which cost them the win vs SF) SF wouldn't have even won the division. It's ludicrious that SF would dial it all back and not care about winning in SEA, when infact there was a strong possiblity they'd play each other again in the playoffs.

They won the division in the end, didn't they? All they had to do was beat Arizona...

The fact that the Seahawks and Niners could have gone head to head in the post season gives even more backing to the story. You don't want the Seahawks to see more of the Pistol just a few weeks before a single elimination game comes up in the NFC Championship.

I swear, most of you act like you've never watched a season of football before. This is extremely COMMON and most of the top teams do it.

ok....you are my new hero of this site. EXACTLY. In particular the part about possibly meeting Seattle in the playoffs.

Roman has been known to do this. Sometimes it doesn't work out well for them, but it is in fact something he will do from time to time.

Sarlacc83 wrote:Then why pull it out in various forms during the regular season and then again against Green Bay? Then it's on tape, and obviously, they want to beat Seattle in the potential NFC Champ game.

However, fine, if you want to argue this is common, go ahead and do so. Because it makes your team look even more arrogant and stupid if they're going to do it against their biggest division rival.

Was Green Bay caught off guard and made to look like a fool when they game planned for the 49ers offense shown in weeks 15-17 and they came out with the Pistol instead, yes or no?

That's all you need to answer for how "stupid" this plan was.

The simple fact is that it worked and teams do it every year all the way back to the 80s and likely before that too. It's nothing new to the NFL.

Sarlacc83 wrote:Then why pull it out in various forms during the regular season and then again against Green Bay? Then it's on tape, and obviously, they want to beat Seattle in the potential NFC Champ game.

However, fine, if you want to argue this is common, go ahead and do so. Because it makes your team look even more arrogant and stupid if they're going to do it against their biggest division rival.

Was Green Bay caught off guard and made to look like a fool when they game planned for the 49ers offense shown in weeks 15-17 and they came out with the Pistol instead, yes or no?

That's all you need to answer for how "stupid" this plan was.

The simple fact is that it worked and teams do it every year all the way back to the 80s. It's nothing new to the NFL.

This.

I'm sorry if this destroys the illusion of the perfect win last december, but that doesn't make it any less true.

Last edited by Marvin49 on Tue Apr 09, 2013 8:26 am, edited 1 time in total.

All he said was that he dialed back the playcalling. He didn't say they weren't trying to win. His point was only that they weren't going to show off their entire offense for playoff teams to prepare for.

...and it worked.

Yes, they lost in Seattle...but all they had to do was beat Arizona to take the NFCW. Even if they lost both games, they'd still have been a wildcard. More importantly tho they rolled out that offense vs. Green Bay (MUCH more of the Pistol). 550+ yards and 45 points. Kaep with 263 yards passing with 2 TDs and 181 yards rushing with an additional 2 TDs. In Atlanta the following week the Falcons had no answers either. The offense played very well in the Super Bowl as well...just a bit too late.

Look...as a Niner fan it pains me to say that the Seahawks are good. They are. You guys tho are making WAY, WAY to much out of ONE GAME.

NONE of these are excuses as teams should be up for every game, but the below are all FACTORS in the way that game played out.

1) Justin Smith was out. That first TD by Lynch was right at his spot and is one of the reasons the Niners didn't resign Ricky Jean-Francios and DID sign Glenn Dorsey.

2) Aldon Smith was hurt. He had 19.5 sacks during the season but NONE in the final 3 games and playoffs. Some say it's because Justin Smith is the reason he gets those sacks. Right...as if no other OLB has had a really good DE lined up next to them. As far as I know tho, none has ever had 33.5 sacks in his first 2 years. Aldon was hurt. It was revealed just a few weeks ago that he played the end of the season with a torn labrum. It's no coincidense that the 49ers pass D fell apart after both Justin and Aldon were hurt. No pressure on the QB. It started in the second half vs NE and continued all the way through the Super Bowl. Even when Justin came back, he was essentially playing with one arm.

3) Fatigue: The 49ers D almost never substitutes. Most of their defenders play the entire game. NE's strategy the week before (and in every game really) is to run a HUGE number of plays so the defense simply can't keep up. In this case, the D was on the field for NINETY snaps. Thats nuts. Follow that with a short week and then going into the Clink where the 'hawks were playing like their hair was on fire....predictable results.

4) Vernon Davis was injured in that game as well. He never came back after that hit by Chancellor (sp?).

The Seahawks won that game...fair and square. Not saying otherwise....but you guys seem to be of the mindset that it was the "changing of the guard" game or something. That ONE game is the thing you cling to more than anything else despite the fact that you BARELY beat a team that the 49ers beat hadily twice (Packers), LOST to the team the 49ers beat in the playoffs (Atlanta...and I've read on here a few times that the Niners had a week off and played them at home...um, no), and are STILL 1-3 vs Harbaugh and actually only split the series this season.

I've seen the thumping of the chest about how you guys "owned" Kaepernick. Against that D in that building he did in fact have his worst showing as a pro, but his QB rating was only 72 in his SIXTH career start. To put that in perspective, what was Wilsons QB rating in his SEVENTH career start in SF? 38.7. Wilson has the makings of a great young QB, but you guys seem to think that he's the only one who improved as the season progressed.

Was the win by Seattle impressive? Of course it was. Does it keep the 49ers up at night? Not really. While Seattle is thumping its chest about a game that got out of hand in December, the 49ers are driven by a game they lost in FEBRUARY. If you guys are expecting 42-13 again, you are in for a big letdown.

Don't be ridiculous. ATL did have answers for the "pistol" Kaepernick threw and ran for just over 250 yards. That's not domination. SF was also 33% on 3rd downs in that game. Again, not dominant. Just because you pimp-slapped an ill-prepared Packers team at HOME, doesn't mean that you were killing everyone with the "pistol" infact, in the Super Bowl it was largely shutdown. Without some serious breaks-- Ie. Fumbles and punt returns. 10 easy point got SF back into the game.

I don't want to hear about the lack of substitution on SF defense. That's on them. It's no one's fault but their own that they don't trust anyone else to play. The lack of playing time for the young players will cost them in the years to come, IMO. I also don't want to hear the garbage about a "SHORT WEEK," and having to suffer through 90 plays against New England.

Guess what- Seattle had it even worse in the first meeting between SF and Seattle in SF. Seattle played New England and won at home. Only to have to play SF on THURSDAY night football. Much shorter week than what SF had to deal with in SEattle. Yet, SEattle only lost 13-6 with plenty of opportunities to win.

QuickLightning wrote:You guys could also look at the snap counts before you jump to conclusions. I was reading earlier (after the divisional round of the playoffs) that they ran something like 10% of their plays from the pistol in the Seattle, New England and Arizona games, then ran something like 60% of the snaps from the pistol in the Packers game.

Most of the common winners do this towards the end of the year anyways, it's not new. The Giants, Packers, Patriots would all dial back and try to run generic towards the end if the division was a lock and save their game planning for the post season.

I'd say it worked out amazingly well. Did you see how badly they embarrassed Green Bay?

But here's the problem the 49ers DIDN'T have the division locked up. Not even close. If it wasn't for ST Louis and their Delay of Game (which cost them the win vs SF) SF wouldn't have even won the division. It's ludicrious that SF would dial it all back and not care about winning in SEA, when infact there was a strong possiblity they'd play each other again in the playoffs.

They won the division in the end, didn't they? All they had to do was beat Arizona...

The fact that the Seahawks and Niners could have gone head to head in the post season gives even more backing to the story. You don't want the Seahawks to see more of the Pistol just a few weeks before a single elimination game comes up in the NFC Championship.

I swear, most of you act like you've never watched a season of football before. This is extremely COMMON and most of the top teams do it.

Are you kidding me. you seem to be overlooking the fact that the #2 seed was still in play. That if they lost to Seattle there was little hope of obtaining it. Sure Minn won GB and SF got the #2 seed anyway, but that occured in week 17. Don't tell me Harbs didn't want to take that seed. To act like that was of no consequence, really is overlooking a major peice to this.

All he said was that he dialed back the playcalling. He didn't say they weren't trying to win. His point was only that they weren't going to show off their entire offense for playoff teams to prepare for.

...and it worked.

Yes, they lost in Seattle...but all they had to do was beat Arizona to take the NFCW. Even if they lost both games, they'd still have been a wildcard. More importantly tho they rolled out that offense vs. Green Bay (MUCH more of the Pistol). 550+ yards and 45 points. Kaep with 263 yards passing with 2 TDs and 181 yards rushing with an additional 2 TDs. In Atlanta the following week the Falcons had no answers either. The offense played very well in the Super Bowl as well...just a bit too late.

Look...as a Niner fan it pains me to say that the Seahawks are good. They are. You guys tho are making WAY, WAY to much out of ONE GAME.

NONE of these are excuses as teams should be up for every game, but the below are all FACTORS in the way that game played out.

1) Justin Smith was out. That first TD by Lynch was right at his spot and is one of the reasons the Niners didn't resign Ricky Jean-Francios and DID sign Glenn Dorsey.

2) Aldon Smith was hurt. He had 19.5 sacks during the season but NONE in the final 3 games and playoffs. Some say it's because Justin Smith is the reason he gets those sacks. Right...as if no other OLB has had a really good DE lined up next to them. As far as I know tho, none has ever had 33.5 sacks in his first 2 years. Aldon was hurt. It was revealed just a few weeks ago that he played the end of the season with a torn labrum. It's no coincidense that the 49ers pass D fell apart after both Justin and Aldon were hurt. No pressure on the QB. It started in the second half vs NE and continued all the way through the Super Bowl. Even when Justin came back, he was essentially playing with one arm.

3) Fatigue: The 49ers D almost never substitutes. Most of their defenders play the entire game. NE's strategy the week before (and in every game really) is to run a HUGE number of plays so the defense simply can't keep up. In this case, the D was on the field for NINETY snaps. Thats nuts. Follow that with a short week and then going into the Clink where the 'hawks were playing like their hair was on fire....predictable results.

4) Vernon Davis was injured in that game as well. He never came back after that hit by Chancellor (sp?).

The Seahawks won that game...fair and square. Not saying otherwise....but you guys seem to be of the mindset that it was the "changing of the guard" game or something. That ONE game is the thing you cling to more than anything else despite the fact that you BARELY beat a team that the 49ers beat hadily twice (Packers), LOST to the team the 49ers beat in the playoffs (Atlanta...and I've read on here a few times that the Niners had a week off and played them at home...um, no), and are STILL 1-3 vs Harbaugh and actually only split the series this season.

I've seen the thumping of the chest about how you guys "owned" Kaepernick. Against that D in that building he did in fact have his worst showing as a pro, but his QB rating was only 72 in his SIXTH career start. To put that in perspective, what was Wilsons QB rating in his SEVENTH career start in SF? 38.7. Wilson has the makings of a great young QB, but you guys seem to think that he's the only one who improved as the season progressed.

Was the win by Seattle impressive? Of course it was. Does it keep the 49ers up at night? Not really. While Seattle is thumping its chest about a game that got out of hand in December, the 49ers are driven by a game they lost in FEBRUARY. If you guys are expecting 42-13 again, you are in for a big letdown.

Don't be ridiculous. ATL did have answers for the "pistol" Kaepernick threw and ran for just over 250 yards. That's not domination. SF was also 33% on 3rd downs in that game. Again, not dominant. Just because you pimp-slapped an ill-prepared Packers team at HOME, doesn't mean that you were killing everyone with the "pistol" infact, in the Super Bowl it was largely shutdown. Without some serious breaks-- Ie. Fumbles and punt returns. 10 easy point got SF back into the game.

I don't want to hear about the lack of substitution on SF defense. That's on them. It's no one's fault but their own that they don't trust anyone else to play. The lack of playing time for the young players will cost them in the years to come, IMO. I also don't want to hear the garbage about a "SHORT WEEK," and having to suffer through 90 plays against New England.

Guess what- Seattle had it even worse in the first meeting between SF and Seattle in SF. Seattle played New England and won at home. Only to have to play SF on THURSDAY night football. Much shorter week than what SF had to deal with in SEattle. Yet, SEattle only lost 13-6 with plenty of opportunities to win.

Right...because the Pistol is all about Kaepernick. SMDH. THAT'S THE POINT GENIUS.

Atlanta had just seen Kaep run for 181 yards vs Green Bay. They'd just seen Seattle run all over them using the Pistol the week before. They comitted to shutting down the run.

The 49ers knew they would do this. Instead, after a slow start, Frank Gore and LaMichael James ran for 124 and 3 TDs. All three TDs were read-option plays. Atlanta committed to not letting Kaep run which opened up the run game for Gore and James.

As fot the rest...you are making my point.

1) Yes...the fact that they don't substitute IS the Niners fault and why they are looking for depth this year. Its only pertinent tho because of who they played the week before.

2) The 'Hawks played the Pats AT HOME...not in NE in December. Even so...what happened in that next game for Seattle? THEY LOST.

As I said before...none of these are excuses because you should get up for every game, but any Niner fan would tell you that they were downright sluggish in that game.

Last edited by Marvin49 on Tue Apr 09, 2013 8:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

jlwaters1 wrote:Are you kidding me. you seem to be overlooking the fact that the #2 seed was still in play. That if they lost to Seattle there was little hope of obtaining it. Sure Minn won GB and SF got the #2 seed anyway, but that occured in week 17. Don't tell me Harbs didn't want to take that seed. To act like that was of no consequence, really is overlooking a major peice to this.

AGAIN...its no tthat they were trying to lose. They just scaled back the offense.

People...its really a simple concept. The fact that it spoils your illusion doesn't make it less true.

It doesn't even mean that the score would have been any different had they NOT scaled back.

All he said was that he dialed back the playcalling. He didn't say they weren't trying to win. His point was only that they weren't going to show off their entire offense for playoff teams to prepare for.

...and it worked.

Indeed it did. After all, they won the Super Bo...

Oh, they were actually getting blown off the field on national TV (again) by the Ravens until the power outage gave them time to regroup? Nevermind.

Clever....and in no way addresses my point.

You don't have a point. You patrol our board seeking to right any injustices at the expense of your team. You add nothing.

Green Bay got run on by Kaepernick because their man coverage scheme for that game was insanely stupid of Dom Capers. The rest of your excuses are just that. Excuses. We were tired. Our coach doesn't sub much. We lack depth at tight end. It was noisy. Our OLB (who got sacks with a torn labrum but no sacks after Justin's injury) had an owwie.

As for your excuses why you lost, and there is no changing of the guard in the NFC West, think about this. Every game we lost last year adds up to a 26 point margin. 6 losses by a combined 26 points. Your single loss to us? 29 points, with a garbage time TD. The Hawks are one of the youngest teams in the NFL. That has gotten even more dangerous in the pass rush and added Harvin. And had the number one scoring D. Of course we think we are changing the guard. And you wouldn't be here if you weren't worried about it too.

Scottemojo wrote:You don't have a point. You patrol our board seeking to right any injustices at the expense of your team. You add nothing.

Green Bay got run on by Kaepernick because their man coverage scheme for that game was insanely stupid of Dom Capers. The rest of your excuses are just that. Excuses. We were tired. Our coach doesn't sub much. We lack depth at tight end. It was noisy. Our OLB (who got sacks with a torn labrum but no sacks after Justin's injury) had an owwie.

As for your excuses why you lost, and there is no changing of the guard in the NFC West, think about this. Every game we lost last year adds up to a 26 point margin. 6 losses by a combined 26 points. Your single loss to us? 29 points, with a garbage time TD. The Hawks are one of the youngest teams in the NFL. That has gotten even more dangerous in the pass rush and added Harvin. And had the number one scoring D. Of course we think we are changing the guard. And you wouldn't be here if you weren't worried about it too.

In my post I said that the Seahawks were good. Never argued otherwise.

The "point" I was making that you call nonexistant was simply that the 43-13 win wasn't everything you guys seem to think it is. Do you really think that if they played again the score would be the same? Do you really think that the factors I listed played no role whatsoever in the outcome of the game? If you do then I feel sorry for you. You are in for a rude awakening.

The Niners and Seahawks are gonna battle this year in a big way. Its gonna be a tough division. To read the posts on this site tho you'd think it was a forgone conclusion that the Seahawks are the better team. All you have to do is look at the score of that last game. That proves everything, right?

The problem is that it doesn't. It proves nothing. You still lost the division. You are still 1-3 vs Harbaugh. You still only split the division series. You were still 3-5 on the road. You still lost to the team the Niners eliminated in the playoffs.

The problem with annoining yourself the king in the offseason is that very often it doesn't happen in the REGULAR season.

All he said was that he dialed back the playcalling. He didn't say they weren't trying to win. His point was only that they weren't going to show off their entire offense for playoff teams to prepare for.

...and it worked.

Yes, they lost in Seattle...but all they had to do was beat Arizona to take the NFCW. Even if they lost both games, they'd still have been a wildcard....

No, Marvin, you guys are funny. For the last three months all we've heard from 49er fans about their loss to the Hawks is "well, they had to fly across country after playing a road game" and "the defense doesn't substitute and was on the field for 90 plays." Now all of a sudden it doesn't matter if they got the #2 seed or even win the division? Please.

The only evidence you have presented that SF dialed back their offense to save it for the playoffs is that fewer plays were called for the Pistol formation. The author of that Yahoo piece makes the assumption that this was done because they didn't want to show their hand for the postseason, but the reality is that there are many possible reasons why this was done. Maybe New England's defensive personnel matched up well against a Pistol. Maybe they knew the crowd noise in Seattle would have Kaepernick curled up in the fetal position crying for his mommy all game long. There are a lot of reasons why Roman may have gameplanned differently the last few weeks of the season. You're making the assumption that it was done just to save it for the playoffs just because it makes your OC look good. In that regard you're no more objective than anyone else on this board.

Here are the facts: the Niners called fewer plays in the Pistol formation over the last three weeks of the season. They had not locked up the #2 seed or the division until week 17. It seems likely that they changed their gameplan for reasons that had nothing to do with "saving it for the postseason," because doing that before they had locked up even a division title could have easily put them in a much riskier position and jeopardized their postseason chances.

If the tables were turned and our OC said this after you guys whooped us, you'd call BS too.

I'm still waiting to hear your DC's excuse for getting 42 put up on him. Did he just drop back into cover 4 every play?

Seahawks beat the Niners fair and square that day. I think I've said that more than once.

The D never showed up to play that day and the pass defense was never the same after the second half comeback by NE.

All I have been trying to say here is that the 42-13 loss doesn't mean all you guys seem to think it means. I'm not suggesting the Niners should have won a game they were blown out in. I'm not suggesting that the 49ers taked the game. OF COURSE they wanted to win it. Seeing the way Kaep reacted after the game is more evidense that they were dissappointed by the result.

All thats being said is that the 49ers scaled back the offense. This isn't the first time the issue has come up...this is just the first time it was the OC who admitted it. Notice that he didn't use that as an excuse. The WRITER did.

Marvin49 wrote:All I have been trying to say here is that the 42-13 loss doesn't mean all you guys seem to think it means. I'm not suggesting the Niners should have won a game they were blown out in. I'm not suggesting that the 49ers taked the game. OF COURSE they wanted to win it. Seeing the way Kaep reacted after the game is more evidense that they were dissappointed by the result.

All thats being said is that the 49ers scaled back the offense. This isn't the first time the issue has come up...this is just the first time it was the OC who admitted it. Notice that he didn't use that as an excuse. The WRITER did.

Marvin49, try adding to a thread which doesn't involve you fluffing Harbaugh and the gang. That's my point, sugarpants.

Its GREAT when other fans come and contribute to Seahawks posts and general NFL posts. But, from what I can tell, being a 49er can is a gimmick, like being a Raider fan. I've been to games each place, and each place the fans knew ZERO about the NFL. They're the "girlfriends" of the NFL...all they know is their local team and regurgitate what their man tells them.